When I Was Just a Kid...Tricia Goyer

When I Was Just a Kid...

Tricia Goyer

See this little cutie at age 2? She was writing even back then. Did you guess that this was Tricia Goyer a few days ago when I posted this photo? Two years later she still had the knack and books stacked around her.(See photo below to the right.) Let's find out about Tricia and what it was back then that developed her into the writer she is today:
Tricia's memories:
Childhood Ambition: School Teacher. From as long as I could remember, I wanted to teach 3rd grade.
[Crystal Editor's note: Tricia homeschools and teaches many about writing and mentors teen mothers, as well as talks on parenting issues. She definitely reached beyond this childhood ambition!]

Fondest Memory (then): One Christmas when I was 12 my parents bought me a red tape recorder. That afternoon, after we left my grandparents house my mom, step-dad, brother and I went home and made up stories that we taped. We made up funny voices and laughed and laughed. It was a simple thing, but a very fond memory. It was also one of the only times I remember my parents "playing" with us in an interactive way.

Proudest Moment (now or then): Watching my kids serve God, for sure: When my 14-year-old daughter used her own money to buy a Bible for her friend. When my 17-year-old son won the "Christian Character Award" for his basketball team last month. When I see my 12-year-old son reading his Bible.


Biggest Challenge as a child or teen: The biggest challenge for me was finding out I was pregnant as a 17-year-old teen. I was so embarassed that I dropped out of high school. I thought my life was over for sure. BUT it was through this challenge I gave my heart to Jesus. I asked Him, "To do something with my life." To God be the glory ... He's done more than I've asked or imagined!


My First Job: Babysitting. I think I made $1.50 an hour.

Childhood indulgence: Reading. Summers were spent at the library.

Favorite Outfit as a child: In 5th grade I got this really cool green satin jacket. I lost it at school a few weeks later. I was VERY sad.

Favorite Childhood Movie: The Parent Trap. Since I didn't know my biological father I always wondered if I had a sister out there. (I grew up with one brother.) Amazingly, last year I met three sisters!!! I have one more sister I haven't met yet. They are more amazing, wonderful, and similar to me than I ever imagined.

Favorite Childhood Book: Little House on the Prairie (by Laura Ingalls Wilder)

Childhood hero: Helen Keller

Tricia had some rough places in her life, but God had plans for her. Big plans. Plans for a hope and a future. The author of five novels, two non-fiction books, and one children's book, Tricia was named Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference "Writer of the Year" in 2003.Besides turning her interests and "rough places" into award-winning nonfiction and fiction, she is one busy wife and mom, and she gives back what God has granted to her by pouring her energies into these interests and causes. From mentoring teen moms, to mentoring writers on her new blog to helping Generation X with parenting, Tricia must never sleep!

Tricia lives in Montana with her husband and three kids where she homeschools, leads children's church, and mentors teenage mothers.

Books Tricia has written:

Historical Fiction: [WWII and Spanish Civil War]
(2003) From Dust and Ashes, (2004) Night Song ,(2005) Dawn of a Thousand Nights,

(2006) Arms of Deliverance,(2007) A Valley of Betrayal [Her latest novel,released in February],(2007) A Shadow of Treason [released in the Fall]

(2007) My Life, Unscripted

(2006) Generation NeXt Parenting
In 2005, her book Life Interrupted was a finalist for the Gold Medallion. Also in 2005, her novel Night Song won AmericanChristianFictionWriter's Book of the Year for Long Historical Romance. In 2006, her novel Dawn of a Thousand Nights also won Book of the Year for Long Historical. She's written over 250 articles for national publications and hundreds of Bible Study notes for the Women of Faith Study Bible.
(2004) Life Interrupted
(2004) 10 Minutes to Showtime
(2000) Mealtime Moments

Tricia has three books that will be out soon
...My Life Unscripted (Thomas Nelson, Children's Division),
Summer 2007
A Shadow of Treason (Moody Publishing) Fall 2007
Generation NeXt Marriage (Multnomah), January 2008




Ok, admit it. Sometimes life is really tough. If you ever start complaining that life didn't hand you a bouquet of roses, take a hard look at Tricia's story. Read some of her books. Tricia's theme in all of it is that God is bigger than anything. He has a plan. If anyone embodies and proclaims Jeremiah 29:11 in their life, that person is Tricia Goyer.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Check out Tricia's blogs and web sites:

http://www.triciagoyer.com
www.shoutlife.com/triciagoyer
www.triciagoyer.blogspot.com
www.genxparents.blogspot.com
www.writerquotes.blogspot.com

http://www.mywritingmentor.blogspot.com/

Big Sky, Big Thoughts

Transfiguration Chapel, Montana

Big Sky, Big Thoughts


Today is my 100th post! And in honor of that, I'm taking a trip--to Big Sky Country (that would be Montana)to talk to someone who lives there.(All by internet--ain't it a cool world?) I was in Montana right after I graduated from high school. It was gorgeous country and I loved every moment of being there--including the Saturday night on a Native American reservation. You felt as if you could walk right out on the clouds up on Going to the Sun Road. And I'll never forget Gunshot Pass or the Bighorn sheep who baaaed at us and told us to get out their way! (Yikes.)



Tricia Goyer lives in Montana and that's who I want you to know, if you don't already. No wonder she has big thoughts.

She is not that old, but yet she has been places in the world and the past. She has helped us to remember big events, and the courageous people in those events through her fiction. My favorite genre is historical fiction--and Tricia is one of my favorite authors in this area. That's why I am thrilled to be part of her blog tour with her new historical, Valley of Betrayal. While her other novels have been set in WWII (I personally know and have known WWII vets, even in my own family,)this one is set in Spain during the Spanish Civil War before WWII.


Tricia was researching her fourth World War II novel, Arms of Deliverance, when she ran across an autobiography of a B-17 crewmember. He said he made it out of German-occupied Belgium after a plane crash due to his skills he picked up as a vet of the Spanish Civil War.

Tricia said, "Reading that bit of information, I had to scratch my head. First of all, I had never heard of the war.And second, what was an American doing fighting in Spain in the late 1930s? Before I knew it, I uncovered a fascinating time in history—one that I soon discovered many people know little about. This is what I learned:

Nazi tanks rolled across the hillsides and German bombers roared overhead, dropping bombs on helpless citizens. Italian troops fought alongside the Germans, and their opponents attempted to stand strong—Americans, British, Irishmen, and others—in unison with other volunteers from many countries. And their battleground? The beautiful Spanish countryside."

Tricia is passionate when it comes to telling stories. It shows in the telling of this story of a war that lasted from July 17, 1936-April 1, 1939. Her character Sophie,an American,falls in love, and ends up in Spain right as the civil war bursts into conflict, and for reasons beyond her control, she ends up alone. The beautiful paradise rips open into a battlefield with fascist soldiers pitted against Spanish patriots. Her safety route is blocked, and she falls right into the firepit of fighting. She ends up taking refuge with a brigade of international volunteer compatriots--and she tells the story of these people through the power of her art.

This is what stood out to me--Picasso also portrayed portions of this war in his art. If you are an art afficionado, then this story will appeal to you as art is an important part of the character, Sophie. Then, there are the athletes. History fills the pages of this book and if you need to understand the times, the history of this war, this is the way to do it. Her attention to details and the history are superior.

In Tricia's words:

"On one side were the Spanish Republicans, joined by the Soviet Union and The International Brigade—men and women from all over the world who have volunteered to fight Fascism. Opposing them, Franco and his Fascist military leaders, supported with troops, machinery, and weapons from Hitler and Mussolini. The Spanish Civil War, considered the “training ground” for the war to come, boasted of thousands of American volunteers who joined to fight on the Republican side, half of which never returned home."

But in this war there wasn't that "good guys triumphing over the bad guys" because there just wasn't a clear good guy/bad guy. Both sides did horrible things. Both sides had passion for their cause. To sort out who was whom, Tricia has a glossary in the book explaining the people involved:

Loyalists—
also know as the Republicans were aided by the Soviet Union, the Communist movement, and the International Brigades. If not for the weapons and volunteers from these sources their fight would have ended in weeks rather than years. While many men fought side by side, their political views included that of liberal democracy, communism and socialism. The Catholic Basque Country also sided with the Republic, mainly because it sought independence from the central government and was promised this by Republican leaders in Madrid.

Nationalists
—or Francoists were aided mainly by Germany and Italy. The Nationalist opposed an independent Basque state. Their main supporters were those who believed in a monarchist state and fascist interests. The Nationalist wished for Spain to continue on as it had for years, with rich landowners, the military, and the church running the country. Most of the Roman Catholic clergy supported the Nationalists, except those in the Basque region.

"An estimated one million people lost their lives during this conflict, and terror tactics to civilians were common," Tricia explains. "These are the stories behind A Valley of Betrayal."

If you enjoy historical fiction, then this is one to pick up because it tells a different war story and is set in the gorgeous countryside of Spain--not to mention the descriptions of the artist's work through the character of Sophie.

The things I so like about Tricia is how responsive she is on her blogs--and how she cares so deeply about people. She's open and tells her own story throughout the blogs she keeps and you'll find her own story on Generation X Parents--there's always a story big as the sky with a love big as the sky with Other books by Tricia Goyer:
Fiction:
From Dust and Ashes: A Story of Liberation
Night Song: A Story of Sacrifice
Dawn of a Thousand Nights
Arms of Deliverance: A Story of Promise
Night Song: A Story of Sacrifice

Nonfiction:
Generation NeXt Parenting: A Savvy Parent's Guide to Getting it Right

Life Interrupted: The Scoop on Being a Young Mom (Mothers of Preschoolers (Mops))

Big ideas and stories come from Big Sky Country--through Tricia.